By
Blood Cancer United
There are more than 100 types of blood cancer. There are infinitely more ways than that to process getting a diagnosis.
Maybe it’s feeling through it. Crying. Bellowing. Talking it out.
You might also turn to the people around you. Family, friends, coworkers, communities.
For Suleika Jaouad, who’s been living with blood cancer since she was 22 years old, pen and paper have been her trusty companions since her diagnosis.
In 2011, Suleika learned she had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and, later, acute myeloid leukemia (AML). That was when she decided to start keeping a daily journal—to document her experience and its challenges, and to help her emotionally digest what she was living through. (And as anyone with blood cancer knows, there’s a lot to digest.)
Journaling has been Suleika’s hallmark ever since. To this day, journaling helps her feel her way through all sorts of life-changing moments—from the COVID-19 pandemic to her third relapse of AML.
For you, creating could look totally different. Why not give it a try?
Why choose creativity as a coping mechanism
Leaning on a creative outlet won’t change the facts of a blood cancer diagnosis. But creativity can be good for you—in more ways than one.
Creativity can offer space to process your emotions—and some agency in what can be an overwhelming situation.
It also stimulates different parts of your brain, depending on what you’re doing. Painting might involve your visual processing, for example, whereas dancing uses the motor cortex, which is all about movement.
And getting creative can be anything from a fun distraction to a practice that gives you purpose. Something that makes you feel curious, excited, zoned in.
No matter which medium you choose, by getting creative, you’re giving yourself permission to be. To be yourself, to be whatever is coming up in the moment that you show up to your notebook, canvas, etc.
“Survival really does feel like a creative act for me, and journaling is just one of the ways that I’ve found my way through it,” Suleika shares.
The best way to start is—starting
Sometimes the overwhelming part isn’t doing. It’s figuring out where to start. The good news? When you’re expressing yourself, there are no rules.
Ask yourself:
- How do I want to be creative? Writing, drawing or painting, collages, music, theater, something else? What do I feel drawn to?
- What parts of my experience do I want to explore in a creative way?
- What’s stuck with me lately—a feeling, a moment, an image, a conversation?
Your creativity is about you and your life, yes—but it’s just as much about your perspective. The way you see things around you. "What I've discovered is this: when I'm in conversation with myself on the page, I'm also in conversation with the world,” explains Suleika.
If you know the how, but are coming up blank on the what, try searching prompts to spark something. That’s how Suleika’s journaling community came together. In early 2020, she started The Isolation Journals, a newsletter with weekly journal prompts and special guests, to get through COVID-19 lockdowns.
Get creative with other people
Creating is deeply personal. It’s vulnerable. Maybe, on your own, that feels like a tall order. Or maybe it’s the opposite—that the idea of sharing what you’re making feels like putting yourself on display.
There’s an answer for both: enlist more people. People who can encourage you, and vice versa.
Journaling is personal for Suleika—but it’s not always a solo endeavor for her. In addition to her newsletter community, she’s recently started hosting what she calls journaling clubs: “a way to bypass small talk, skip straight into the good stuff, and create space for both creative solitude and community,” she explains.
Sharing can make your creative work special—loosening any tough feelings and helping you connect to the people around you. You might be surprised at what comes through when you create space to be curious, or even excited, together.
Your creative crew can look like anything: an online meeting space, a local club or class, your loved ones, even just one friend who’s interested. Set aside time, either in person or virtually, to lean into your chosen creative outlet.
Let your process change along with you
Suleika is known for her writing. But in 2022, when she was hospitalized after a bone marrow transplant and dealing with brain fog, writing was a monumental effort. Instead, she picked up a paintbrush.
Painting watercolors made sense: it didn’t take the brainpower writing did, and she could do it lying in her hospital bed at any hour—even when the rest of the hospital was asleep.
There’s no perfect way to process or cope. There’s only what works for you. And when you’re facing blood cancer, what works for you might change, even from one day to the next. That’s okay. Your process isn’t for anyone but you. Give yourself breathing room based on what you need.
Resources to start with
In September 2025, when Suleika joined the Good Morning America crew to celebrate our launch as Blood Cancer United, she said: “As someone living with blood cancer, I know how important it is to feel seen, cared for and connected. Blood Cancer United is a safe harbor— funding research, sharing trusted information, and advocating for access to care—so people can feel whole.”
You’re a whole person. Blood cancer might be a part of the whole, but it’s not the only part. And being creative can help you stay connected to that whole—all the things that make you you.
We’re all about blood cancer. So Suleika, you, and everyone affected by blood cancer can be about everything else.
Check out helpful resources to get you started below.
If you’re looking for information on blood cancer:
- Resources for patients
- Resources for caregivers
- Survivorship workbooks for adults, young adults, and children/adolescents
If you’re wondering how creativity fits into a diagnosis:
- Watch our webcast on the power of creative therapies for kids with blood cancer
- Download our Blood Cancer United Coloring For Kids™ app
If you’re seeking community:
- Explore Blood Cancer United Community, an online community for anyone affected by blood cancer
- Check out Suleika’s Journaling Club Guide for gatherings or journaling with others
If you want creative perspectives from blood cancer survivors:
- Kendra’s story of walking the Camino de Santiago
- Steve’s reflections on cancer and humor
- Ed’s perspective on being a musician with multiple myeloma
About Suleika:
Suleika Jaouad is a writer, artist, and author of the New York Times bestselling memoirs The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life and Between Two Kingdoms, which has been translated into over twenty languages. She writes the #1 Literature newsletter on Substack, the Isolation Journals, home to a creative community of over 230,000 readers from around the world.
A three-time cancer survivor, she launched her career from her hospital bed at age 22 with the New York Times column and Emmy Award-winning video series “Life, Interrupted.” Her essays and reporting have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Vogue, among others. A sought-after speaker, her TED Talk, “What Almost Dying Taught Me About Living,” has more than five million views.
Along with husband Jon Batiste, Jaouad is the subject of the Oscar-nominated and Grammy Award-winning documentary American Symphony, produced by the Obamas—a portrait of two artists during a year of extreme highs and lows. When her leukemia returned in 2022 and treatment complications temporarily compromised her vision, she turned to painting to transcribe her fever dreams and medication-induced hallucinations. This vibrant, visceral record of grief and desire has since expanded to include large-scale watercolors, exhibited in The Alchemy of Blood, a joint show with Jaouad’s mother, the artist Anne Francey, at ArtYard. Most recently, she was commissioned to paint a grand piano for the 2024 SuperBowl in New Orleans, now on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and trio of rescue dogs.
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